1. Field
Various embodiments of the invention pertain to network devices, and more specifically to network infrastructure devices with knowledge of their own geographical location and a protocol that facilitates geolocation of other network devices.
2. Background
Finding the location of network-attached devices is often difficult, but is desired for many commercial, emergency and legal purposes. For example, voice-over-IP (VOIP) telephone communication services rely on knowing the geographical information of a telephone device to route emergency calls. An emergency call cannot be easily routed to a nearby call center without knowing the geographical location of the telephone device. In the event that the caller using a VOIP telephone is unable to provide an address, emergency services may be unable to locate the caller in another way. Regulations of telephone services also impose the need to locate a telephone device for emergency purposes. Similarly, other applications may benefit from knowing the current geographical location of a network-attached device.
Some approaches to geolocating a network-attached device rely on the device itself having geolocating capabilities to determine its own geographical location. Other approaches rely on the network infrastructure to determine a geographical position and report to another server or requesting device the results of the position determination.
Thus, a way is needed to facilitate geolocation determination and tracking for network devices on a communication network.